St. Louis loses the public vote, Atlanta changes turf providers, and S2 players make USL Team of the Week.

MLS

If you were planning ahead to go to St. Louis for an away match, I've got some bad news. Voters failed a measure to publicly fund a portion of the new soccer stadium, effectively killing the expansion bid.

Now it is official. MLS has announced today that Minnesota has been awarded an expansion team that will begin play in 2018.The new team will be owned by a Minnesota ownership group led by Dr. Bill McGuire and will play in a new soccer-specific stadium in downtown Minneapolis.

"We are proud to welcome Minnesota to Major League Soccer," said Commissioner Garber.

The partnership that wants to bring a Major League Soccer team to Las Vegas has two more months to figure out how they plan to finance the stadium they want built for the team.

Las Vegas City Council voted on Wednesday, 6-1, togive theFindlay Sports and Entertainment and theCordish Companies until December to finalize a finance plan for a proposed $200 million stadium in Symphony Park.

The idea of an MLS expansion franchise in Las Vegas just cameone step closer to fruition.

On Tuesday, the City of Las Vegas,Findlay Sports and Entertainment, and The Cordish Companies released a non-binding term sheet that details how and where a stadium for a potential MLS team would be built.

David Beckham is facing a huge backlash against his plans for a 25,000-seater soccer stadium in Miami.

An alliance of shipping interests and a billionaire car dealer have launched a newspaper ad protesting against David Beckham's plans for a soccer stadium in Miami, saying it threatens the city's plans to capitalize on the expansion of the Panama Canal.

Landing a stadium in PortMiami was never going to be easy for David Beckham, and now he has his first real hurdle to overcome.

Miami-Dade commissioners on Tuesday did not allow PortMiami to move a fuel-spill facility that would need to be relocated for Beckham's proposed soccer-specific stadium, according to a report from the Miami Herald.

ORLANDO, Fla. â€” For the first time in 12 years, Major League Soccer looks to be on its way back to Florida.

The Orange County Board of Commissioners voted on Tuesday evening, 5-2, to grant the Orlando City Soccer Club $20 million of the remaining Tourism Development Tax (TDT), which will bring a downtown soccer stadium with a purpose of luring an MLS expansion team.

The dream of Major League Soccer coming to Orlando is now in the hands of the Orange County Board of Commissioners.

According to a report from the Orlando Sentinel, MLS President Mark Abbott, who is in Orlando ahead of Tuesday's crucial county vote, said that the league will move "very quickly" if the county votes in favor for a downtown soccer stadium.

The University of Southern California has taken control of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with plans to restore the venue to its former glory. Part of that will allegedly involve tearing down the Sports Arena, which the university also acquired, and replacing it with a 22,000 seat soccer stadium.

Yesterday, fans gathered in Orlando for the second annual fan forum to discuss various items in Orlando such as a move to Major League Soccer, their own soccer stadium and much more.

More than 200 supporters of Orlando City Soccer Clubpacked into Harry Buffalo's on Church Street. Nearly everyone in attendance had the same thought or question on their mind, when would Orlando be moving up to MLS?

The big stadium news today came courtesy of the New York Postwhich indicated that Major League
Soccer is closing on a deal to construct a $300 million facility in Queens at Corona Park.Â Â
According to the article, the 25,000 seat stadium could start rising from the ground as early as
next year.Â As we have previously discussed on this site, MLS has made it clear that the stadium
is the primary goal for a New York 2 project.

Council Chairman Phil Mendelson talks about the proposed D.C. United stadium.

DC Council chairman Phil Mendelson sat down with The Georgetown Dish and gave a wide-ranging interview about subjects relevant to many parts of life in DC. Most relevant to this blog, however, were his comments about the proposed D.

Do we need to start adding a question mark to the end of our Zzzzzzzz's? Jonathan O'Connell, a business reporter with the Post and jonny-on-the-spot when it comes to reporting on the District's end of the ongoing D.C. United stadium saga, is reporting this morning that D.C. City Administrator Allen Y.

Jacob Peterson arrives for trainingï»¿ï»¿Today's edition of THE MATCHUP has been written
by a special guest columnist - The Dean of Studying from The Jacob Peterson Institution of
America-Canadia Relationships & Things
ã€€THE FC's VS. SPORTING KANSAS CITYã€€CANADA SOCCER STADIUM - SATURDAY 4:30PM (Canada Time)TV: GOL TV (Likely in French)RADIO: THE FAN 590 (Probably when hockey ends)
ã€€THE KICKAROUND:
The patriotic and totally kick-ass Sporting Kansas City, current Kings of the MLS Eastern
Conference, are being forced by the liberal media elite and left-wing policy makers to travel to
North America - home of the Toronto FC's soccer team.

The Rest

New York City FC has submitted a bid proposal to build a soccer stadium at Belmont Park ahead of Thursday's 2pm deadline. The New York Islanders of the National Hockey League have also tendered a proposal.

According to NYCFC President, Jon Patricof, at least 35 potential sites have been reviewed by the club.

The future of S2 just got a lot more clear. The Seattle Sounders announced on Saturday that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tacoma Rainiers intending to result in S2 moving home games to a new 5,000-seat soccer-specific stadium on the footprint of historic Cheney stadium.

Message from Kansas City today: From: Mike Kuhn ‏@downthebyline Bruce, For anyone coming to KC for MN game on Sat Jun 3. "Rockfest" will be same day at the KS Speedway (right next to the soccer stadium) The show is called largest 1 day music festival in USA (concert draws 50K+) If you are looking to book hotel near stadium you should do that ASAP

dN

Univision Deportes is going to start broadcasting some Liga MX games in the English language on its Facebook page.

Sacramento Republic FC has enjoyed incredible support in their inaugural season in USL Pro, but it doesn't look like their early successes will translate into an easier road towards building a stadium of their own.

The city of Miami (Florida) has rejected David Beckham's plan to build a soccer stadium on the city waterfront. The city officials determined that the proposed location next to the Miami Heat arena was inappropriate.

Beck's business group, Beckham Miami United, will continue to pursue alternative locations since is required to finalize a stadium deal before it can win approval from MLS to open a franchise.

Why is this man smiling? That thud you heard this morning was TFC supporter's hearts collectively hitting the ground. A TSN report claiming that the Toronto Argos are on the brink of being sold to MLSE and/or Larry Tanenbaum brought home the worst fears for many of The Reds' faithful.

There are some excellent scribes who write about Argentine Soccer. Sam Kelly. Dan Colasimone. Ed Malyon. Most of them live in Buenos Aires, whereas my own tenure there was an all too brief six months (several years ago). However, there's just one problem: none of the aforementioned writers are pricks.